Welcome to Soroptimist International of Yorkshire
Message from Regional President Pat Kilbane 2018/2019 
Welcome to the webpage of Soroptimist International of Yorkshire, part of a global women’s voluntary service organisation. Soroptimists work to transform the lives of women and girls through education, empowering and enabling opportunities. My name is Pat Kilbane, and I am a member of SI Garforth Elmet, one of twenty-two clubs in the Yorkshire Region, and a membership of around five hundred women.
I joined the Regional team first of all as the Membership officer before becoming Vice President, and eventually as President from 2018 to 2019. I feel very proud and honoured to hold this position, and look forward to the challenge of continuing the work of our two year project, ‘The Power of a Second Chance’ started in 2017 by Immediate Past President, Chris Clark.
Current Projects
We have already forged strong links with a local Women’s Prison, during which time we have helped with the refurbishment of their craft room. We will be holding our June 2019 Regional Council Meeting there again, as we have done this year.
We will also maintain contact with local charities who support refugees and asylum seekers, and hope to begin working with The Prince’s Trust.
Federation President Sue Williams has for her year the theme ‘Think on it’ – an excellent opportunity for Yorkshire clubs to build in work relating to mental health issues. We have been challenged to continue to raise awareness of the devastating impact of mental ill-health in women and children, through Social Media, and holding an event to highlight these issues in our local area. I hope all clubs can build this into their 2019 calendar, especially taking note of Mental Health Awareness Week in May, and World Mental Health Day in October.
‘Think on it’ and ‘Power of a Second Chance’ dovetail together extremely well, and I know the Yorkshire members will take up the challenge of making a real difference to the lives of women and girls during this coming year.
President Pat
Soroptimist International of Yorkshire is a vibrant, dynamic service organisation for women. Through awareness, advocacy and action at international, national and local levels, we are committed to helping women and girls to achieve their potential, realise aspirations and have an equal voice in creating strong and peaceful communities. Our 22 clubs work on some amazing projects and you can see much of that through this and the Yorkshire clubs’ websites. Projects vary in size but all make a huge impact on the lives of women and girls.
Our Federation, Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI), has 8,000 Members in 350 Clubs in 28 countries including Great Britain, Ireland and countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Malta, who work at a local, national and international level to educate, empower and enable opportunities for women and girls. We know that Education is Power and we need to ensure all girls have the opportunity to receive high quality education across the world.
Soroptimist International of Yorkshire is part of a global network of more than 80,000 Soroptimist in 124 countries across the world and we greatly value our special link to the United Nations.